Sudden fear of loud noises

[FreyaTheKitty]

When we first got Freya, she was used to lightning storms because we lived in North Dakota, and she was born in the Rockies, so she was used to lightning storms, never gave a second glance to a passing storm.

We recently moved to Illinois and we're living on an rv, near a fairground. As everyone is aware, fireworks are illegal in Illinois, well...some very unkind word people that I can't say here, smuggled some fireworks into the fair while they were renting it out. (The owner of the camp and fair grounds later told us he yelled them out) Freya was afraid, so afraid that she managed to squeeze herself in underneath the rv's liftable dashboard and refused to come out. We figured she'd be fine afterwards, that it'd only be fireworks she'd fear now, despite how strange it was she was afraid of the fireworks but not lightning storms.

How wrong I was.

There is currently a lightning storm going off outside and she is curled up next to me literally shaking everytime thunder happens. I find this so bizarre and saddening that she's so scared of lightning storms now just because of fireworks when she was fine with thunder before. Is there any way I can help her? I feel so bad for her, I don't want her to be afraid of either!

 

[Mamanyt1953]

I wish I had a really easy answer for  you, but time may be all that is needed.  Hekitty is terrified of thunder, but ignores jets going over at very low altitude (I live less than half a mile from the end of one of the Cherry Point Marine Air Base runways...LOTS of jets flying low around here!).  I would suggest not paying TOO much attention to her, but do allow her to be near you for comfort.  If you play into the fear, you reinforce that fact there is actually something to fear.

 

[Columbine]

hno: Poor Freya

Unfortunately, fear can be a learned response, and once the fear has been triggered it can take a LOT of time to retrain. The best thing you can do is stay calm, put on the tv or some music to help cover the sound, and let her do what she needs to right now.

For the future, Feliway is often a good first step for creating a calmer environment, and as she's SO spooked by the thunder right now, I'd probably look at keeping some Composure in the house for her, and giving it when a storm is approaching. [article="30316"][/article]

I really hope the storm passes quickly, and that Freya feels better soon :cross: